I'm Free to Be the Greatest, I'm Alive
by HartFamily
Summary: The others can't stop staring at how easily it is for these people to smile. They hate the them for it. The smiles die down immediately. Or… That time that The Power Rangers from 2017 fall into a mirrored dimension where things are different, love is flip-flopped, and one of them is gone. But these old school rangers still love them for all their faults & brokenness & they loath it
1. Troubled Times, Caught Between Confusion

**Disclaimer: Don't own any part of The Power Rangers or their franchise!**

* * *

 **Full Summary: _The_** _ **others can't stop staring at how easily it is for these people to smile. Suddenly Billy finds himself doing so as well. It's strained a bit and comes out with a small joyful laugh and with his comes theirs, the laughter of people who loved them unconditionally. They hate these people for it. Broken tears stream down Trini's face as she laughs. Theirs dies down immediately.**_

 _ **Or… That time that The Power Rangers from 2017 fall into a mirrored dimension where things are different, love is flip-flopped, and one of them is gone. But these old school rangers still love them for all their faults and brokenness and they loath them for it.**_

* * *

 **1.**

 **Troubled Times,**

 **Caught Between Confusion and Pain**

It starts with a blast, because _seriously?_ Isn't that  always how these things come to be? Well anyway, it starts with a blast and Billy, ever the scientists _sees_ something.

"Billy!" Kim screeches from behind and, in Trini's peripheral vision, she can see Jason holding the Pink Ranger back.

Zack, for once doesn't have anything smart to say and is just there, standing next to Trini, wide eyed, and in awe.

But Billy? No, Billy is inching forward _toward_ the dangerous white and sea green cosmic swirling vortex that's almost blinding to the normal eye.

Then again, even before _**The Power**_ they were never normal and _definitely not_ the most upstanding of teenagers (and that's by the current stigma of teens withstanding) they were always a little too much. Too much attitude is what most people would say but hey arguing back just proved a point. So the concept of _normal_ had never really made its way to their ranks yet.

"Billy, fall back **now**!" Jason commands with a will of a thousand ancient beings but it doesn't differ the curious blue ranger from what has him so immersed.

"Wait guys! I think I see-" It's a split second but Trini notices before anyone else. Billy's foot lands _just so_ and then the Yellow Ranger is rushing toward him, trying to throw her friend's weight back, then Zack shoots forward and Kim's pulling on Zack while Jason is trying to hold down Kimberly. Someone slips; into the cosmic energy they go.

The girl in pink sees them yell as they all fall into the unknown and, had she been able to, Kim would have screamed out in fear too, no matter how tough of a front she puts up. The pterodactyl ranger finds that her voice silences while her head screams with emotion. There's a hot searing ring to her eardrums from, what she can imagine, is the pulsing vibrations that give off a white noise to their descent into the abyss. It's so overcoming. It's too much.

Kim mentally giggles cynically. _Haha, too much._

The vortex starts to minimize on itself and they all begin to blackout.

 **.**

 **.**

 **(** _ **Stupid Billy.)**_

 **.**

When she comes to, Trini feels as stiff as a board and a deep pounding in her head resonates through the rest of her body. All signs that the suit is still doing its job and she's not dead. Yet. She's somewhere out in the open, if the hue colored sky above her is any indication. To her right, she sees Billy, trying to gain his wits about him. Zack is a little farther away, face down. Not speaking. _Not good_. Kim's unconscious but breathing with Jason next to her, groaning from the odd angle his arm is at. That has to be set back into place, _soon_. Which means they have to get moving but she's not sure how far they fell or from where and the soreness in her limbs tell her it was far and hard.

For a moment, she just stares up. The sky back home had never been so vibrant she thinks. Sighing deeply, Trini knows she's screwed. " _Mierda._ "

"Ya basta." A heavy voice says to beyond her vision from the ground.

Trini tries not to let fear latch onto her heart, for though she may be in the suit, her protective visor in her helmet has been uncovered this whole time. She's been compromised.

So Trini does what she does best, she puts on the tough girl act. "¡Quienquiera que seas, te estás lastimando aún más si decides acercarte a nosotros!" Then came the pregnant pause. It's stretched too long. The Yellow Ranger hears faint whispering but with the throbbing taking up space in her head, even with _**The Power**_ 's heightened senses, she can't make out what it is they're saying. She gulps, then blinks, and when she opens her eyes she's surrounded by a mass of pigment. Red. Blue. Black. Pink. Green. White. Gold. Silver. Orange. Purple. _**Yellow**_. It's not just the colors they wear either because, if that wasn't overwhelming enough, Trini can _feel_ their colors. It makes her want to puke. A threat is on the very tip of her tongue however, before she can fire it off, as if on cue, hers and the others suits de-morphs and she feels like breaking down.

So she does. Pathetically. "My name is Trini Cristal. I'm the Yellow Ranger. Let us live." And blackout again she does.

 **.**

 **.**

 **(** _ **If they don't, her mom is SO gonna kill her.)**_

 **.**

When he awakens the final time (going in and out of it is like a never ending nightmare of sleep apnea and pressure filled anxiety), he's in a house, laying on a bed, in someone's basement. Getting up slowly, Zack feels _**The Power**_ start to set in. Every kink in his body, every muscle stretch, each and every tingling sensation, indicating that he's healing himself as the time passes. The deep wounds take longer, the lying boy has come to realize. Zack learns that those scars that mar your body never _truly_ fade away. They're reminders. Memories.

Zack shakes his head. Dwelling on the past doesn't save you from your demons, it only strengthens them.

 _But who says you can't rescue yourself?_ The young man wonders.

Ascending up the stairs quietly, Zack hears the frantic whispers of some nostalgic voices. Ones he doesn't recognize at all. Inwardly, Zack ponders whether it's at all mentally stable to yearn for beings that you've never encountered but opts to having Billy answer his existential crisis' bullshit when he gets to the guy. He listens in closely from the other side of the wall, careful of sneaking a peek into the living room without them spotting him. They're people, Zack understands that and he'd be a little startled if they looked like aliens but had conversed with Trini in Spanish. Startled, of course, but not completely surprised because, hell, his life is just _full_ of those. There's something about them he thinks. They're too…. _something_! And Zack can't damn well figure out what that is! That's not the thing that's driving him insane though. They're…. _familiar._ Some of them at least. His whole life is about moving on to grander things. Life with a sick mother basically begs for you to go fast, don't limit or confine yourself, otherwise it's going to be too late to do anything but his gut tells him to slow down. He doesn't listen.

Taking his first cautious steps away from his hiding spot, Zack wanders, searching for his friends. Kimberly is first. She's just sitting there on the bed looking helpless; Zack figures there's a first time for everything but never in all the time that he's known the girl has he ever pegged Kimberly Hart as the damsel in distress. Zack closes the door behind him with a soft click. It wakes her from the shock and suddenly she's up and hugging him and when they pull away gone is the vulnerable girl facade and an unyielding determination is right back in it's place.

"They took Billy around the corner," She whispered urgently. "That's when I woke up but I have _no idea_ what's going on or where you Jason and Trini were and I wasn't in the suit! I almost thought that-"

"What?" Zack smirks. "That Kimberly Hart pays for her mistakes in some rehabilitation facility? Been there a couple times and I can tell you you are neither handicapped in any way or mentally racked...well maybe not completely, Hart"

Rolling her eyes but too happy to care whether he was joking or not, Kimberly opened the door slowly and peeked her head out. Turning around for confirmation, Zack followed close behind her as they slipped out. "Let's bust Billy."

Jason had never blacked out. The Power was coursing through his veins notched up to eleven trying to fix the current anomaly his body didn't recognize as normal: a dislocated arm. He'd experienced a couple when he played as an Angel Grove Tiger but with heightened healing also comes hyper awareness to pain. If someone didn't it set it correctly he wasn't sure what The Power was going to do. A groan was sounded and Jason tried to crane his neck from his position on the bed as best as he could.

"Trini?!" He called out. These _beings_ had brought her in with him too. Stupid mistake. "Trini, you there?"

Suddenly overlooking him was a fierce eyed brunette. "I'll kill 'em."

"We'll worry about that later." Jason pacified not wanting to think about what the hardened girl _really_ meant. "Keep talking to me though. I can't tell if I have a concussion or not."

Trini took note of his current position. "Jason, why aren't you getting up?"

This was the part Jason hated, being a leader meant all responsibility hardly any perks. "You have your brothers right?" The Red Ranger asked after a momentary beat. In truth, the whole team had at one point or another met Trini's younger siblings. Two twin boys who had a knack of finding just as much trouble as you'd expect from kids with dimpled smiles and fast talking mouths.

"Yeah…" Trini answered back with a slow nod not liking where this was going.

"They ever do something that they shouldn't have?"

Trini scoffed at that but held a small smile for Mateo and Manny's adventurous side. "When are they not?"

The blond young man smiled right along with her at that but winced in pain. **_The Power_** was kicking out an extra boost, trying to sew any worn or torn muscle tendons back together but with it being located in the wrong place, it was stretching, hurting more than helping. "I did something I wasn't suppose to do. I hit something falling down, jolted my arm out of place." Trini was silent. She knew what he was about to ask of her. "Grab a rag or something, put it in my mouth, and get on my right side. I'm going to need you to set it back in."

Billy led Kim and Zack through the house, having being the only one besides Jason who was still awake when they were brought here, Billy made it a point to memorise every step they took. He thought he was a goner for sure this time. Except after these people separated them all, they just left. Clearly they didn't understand who they were dealing with. Zack and Kimberly had found Billy right where Kim had seen him to be dragged off. The boy in blue was still a bit disoriented and overwhelmed but he was the only one who knew where they were keeping the team's Red and Yellow Rangers. So he got a grip.

Tiptoeing closer to the door where Billy had last seen his friends set up in, he turned his head in alarm at the other two when he heard muffled screams of pain. "Sounds like Jason!" Kim didn't need to tell them twice. Bursting in they found Jason face down on the bed gagged, tears of pain rushing down his face (which was almost as red as the shirt he was wearing) as Trini tried to fix. The others rushed around her to help because even though Trini had the strength, her height crippled her perception and the angle wasn't right over Jason's long arm and broad shoulder. Finally with a bit of maneuvering an audible pop was sounded and Jason threw out the towel from his mouth with a gasp of relief.

Trini sighed along with him, wiping her brow and let out a small whining noise. " _Fuck!_ Don't ever let me do that again!" Zack threw his arm around her shoulder and just quietly laughed into the crook of her neck.

Kim's head swooped around to glance at Trini. "You okay?" After the other girl gave a grave nod Kim went back to checking out Jason's state of being as he sat on the bed exhausted. From what the short haired girl could tell, now that it was in the right position, **_The Power_** was doing its job in pumping Jason up with all the adrenaline he probably lost from the pain and stress. "Your eyes are dilated, so we're in business. Think you can stand up?"

"Yeah," Jason answered back breathlessly. "Just… give me a minute."

Kimberly shook her head. "Don't have one."

"Yeah, I figure our captors are just waiting for us to round the corner." Zack pointed out.

Trini looked towards Billy. "Did you see anything that could get us out of here?"

"One way out, the way we came." Billy told them hurriedly. "Unless we can get out through the garage?"

"Nah man, you'd have to go through the kitchen and that's on the other side of the living room that's where all of them are hanging now." Zack explained. "I checked earlier, same goes for the front door."

Jason agreed. "It's too risky if we go through the garage anyway. All that banging around and I bet that door won't be fast enough. We'd alert them in a second and then they'd probably do something worse than just putting us in different rooms."

"Well we're running out of time." Trini stated. "Who knows when one of them goes to check in on us and finds out we're not there?"

"So we fight our way out right?" Kimberly suggests and the others get it too. "I mean that's our only other option."

Jason is silent for a minute. "Then that's what we'll do." He looks each and everyone of them in the eye. "We'll go the submissive route though. That way they misjudge us, make them think they have the upper hand. Things go south, we morph but I don't want to do it too early if the Morphing Grid is already acting up."

"Right." Zack complied.

"Besides," Trini shrugged nonchalantly. "Nobody is allowed to die alone."

"You're awake." A man with worn eyes states, standing with his arms crossed speaks as they enter the room. Jason and Kimberly share a glance while Zack does a double take. The man is familiar in every sense of the word. A reminder of an old friend. Billy tries to get a first impression of him. Calculating, the Blue Ranger assumes; mindful of the possible threat they could posses but with a possibility of hope. Trini thinks it won't be hard to take him down.

"We are." Kimberly speaks with a surety. This ain't Kansas anymore or Angel Grove but it's certainly not a dream. Nightmare, maybe. "You're the people that _saw_ us earlier?"

A man with kinder eyes, more tired than the first but not hopeful, just accepting, nodded. "You fell from a hole in the sky. Kind of hard to miss that."

Taking a deep breath, Jason scanned the room. All of them were looking at him, waiting for a reaction. Almost like they knew that he was in charge. "I'm going to need all your first and last names, before we leave."

"What makes you think we'll give you that?" The first man interrogated again.

"Or that you even have a way to leave?" A beautiful woman with tears at bay in her doe orbs questioned. Okay, at that Zack _really_ did a double-take. He moved his gaze to see if Jason and Kimberly were seeing what he's seeing and sure enough they had the same expression of puzzlement in their eyes. For once though, Zack kept his mouth shut.

Trini sent the man a hard glare. "Because when whatever government testing labs you're already thinking about selling us out to, comes knocking on our door to disrupt this already messed up life we've got going on, _I'll_ know who to come after." Turning her gaze onto the woman, she threatened just as harshly. "And if we don't already have a way, we'll _make a way._ "

"You're not leaving after what you said." One man bursts from the corner. Trini had noticed him eying her up and down ever since she walked into the room so he poses the greatest threat. The Yellow Ranger will take him out first.

Zack smirked. "Sorry, you don't really have a choice in that."

The woman from before stands up, obviously riled. "Just stop!"

"What speaking the truth?" Trini interjects once more. "You know after what you've seen we're not gonna stick around and if you try to stop us it's _not_ gonna end well, _for anyone_!"

"No, I mean-"

"You're not Trini!" The man in the corner yells defiantly.

Stupid mistake, Trini understands that. Telling them her civilian identity, she should have known that'd have consequences but they don't want her to leave because they think she's not who she says she is? _That's_ what confuses her. Jason shares a look with her saying that it's okay, not like they can know anymore about her character than what they've got so far. "I think I know my own name." She points to herself reaffirming that they're the crazies. Not her.

There's silence once again and then. "You don't understand. Trini is dead." The ringing returns in ears. The rest of her team are left with silence.

 **.**

 **.**

 **(** " _ **She's been gone for a long time.")**_

 **.**

After that, a lot is explained. This is Angel Grove, California. Power Rangers have been around _for_ _ **years**_. Trini (of _this_ universe) was on the very first team. Trini is dead. They've grieved. They've moved on. And the young girl before them is just there to shake things up.

The teens stand their ground even if the room is spinning on it's tail with all this new information. Trini averts her gaze to the ground to stop the sudden blow to her mind that she can't seem to get ahold of. This is the stuff Zordon talks about, this kind of science-mystical-space-perspective _bullshit_ that he and Alpha are always warning them about. For a moment, Billy wishes he wasn't so curious. Zack contemplates what he would have done not too long ago. Old Zack would have just watched out for himself and if a person fell into a swirling vortex, well, it was their problem, he had other things to worry about. Kim, unbeknownst to her fellow ranger, shares the same sentiments. Not anymore. Somehow an idiot floating energy head trapped in a wall and a robotic fixer-upper convinced her to have faith in humanity. And maybe four friends. Friends. The only people who have her back. Jason didn't know what to think.

It's not until someone speaks his name, does Jason realize these _Others_ have been talking over and through them while they're in plain shock.

"Jason!" A man in red awakens him from his trance.

He doesn't answer too kindly. The way they say his name, with authority, he hates it. " _ **What**_ _?!_ " He almost loses it, lashing out.

"We're going to keep you safe." The man with the kinder eyes commanded with the will of a thousand ancient beings. "We'll get our best on it. I promise." Zack doubts that. He doesn't have any faith in promises these days. Only what becomes of them. "You'll stay with us until then." And so it goes.

 **.**

 **.**

 _ **("Tommy will take the first shift.")**_

 **.**

The first night they stay with the calculating one. Dr. Thomas Oliver. Trini learns that all idiots start somewhere but this one ended up being a doctor. How the world must hate her. She loathes doctors. Turns out he doesn't even _live_ in Angel Grove anymore, but in Reefside instead and he only came home to catch up with everyone on Power Rangers Day. Kimberly resists the urge to puke at the very thought of a day dedicated to all the times they didn't die in a battle and merely half rolls her eyes at the mention of the street sign that crosses with Ocean Bluff Rd. and Mariner Bay in _her_ Angel Grove. His parents actually left on vacation for the month, so they asked him to watch the place while they're gone. Dr. Oliver is telling them all of this while he's jangling the keys, trying to remember which one, of the many, is the one to get in the back door, as Zack stares at his back, only half listening to a word he's saying. In reality, Zack could care less. It's all droll and mundane and the rain has begun and it's dark and they're in a whole other dimension and, _and_ , _**and!**_ Who's going to take care of his mom?

Perhaps Billy says out loud how messed up this situation is or maybe the guy just has a good read on people because he chooses then to comment on his emotions. "You don't have to be on board with all of this, you know. But co-operation might speed things along." The door finally opens. Dr. Oliver waits until they step through the threshold, Jason at the last of the group before he walks in himself and closes it. It's a house with walls and a roof over their heads, yet the only thing that's stopping Trini from punching through every one of those walls, is that she has know idea how powerful the "rangers" of this world are.

Dr. Oliver disappears for a moment. No one bothers to follow him any further into the house but they do hear some clunking off to the side and he re-emerges with a bowl of popcorn and some leftover subs. "Figure you must be hungry. People don't just fall into another dimension without any repercussions. Trust me, I've done it enough times to know." He moves past them to set the food down on a coffee table that's surrounded by a couch and an outdated TV set. "I can't remember if Trini liked pepperoni but I know she liked popcorn, so why don-"

"You look like someone's father." Kim's an angry mess right now, one that wants to smother herself with a pillow but instead Kimberly Hart considers breaking a person's brain with the the bitchy personality that everyone seems to associate with the ex-queen bee before getting to know her. She's not one. Any of her friends can tell you that but when people at school think something of you, well, she's picked up a couple of mannerisms from _real_ mean girls to put up a wall. "Guess you and I have that in common right?" She half taunts half interrogates but it all comes out cold as she makes herself comfortable on the couch with a raised eyebrow, gauging his reaction. "You don't exist in my world, not really, you're just a mixture," Boy, does Trini triumph in the slight (she wouldn't have seen it if not for _**The Power**_ 's enhanced senses) wince Kim manages to squeeze out of him. "And I'm not what you'd expect in yours. What suit did you wear again?" She glances up over her nails to take in the sight of him.

Everything is overwhelming Billy gets that but the doctor's " _ **Power"**_ is heave-worthingly so. It's going in all different directions, expanding and condensing at the same , Billy thought he was about to faint by the amount of " _ **Power"**_ gathered in the previous house. He's so used to recognizing the off low toned buzz from Trini, Zack, Kimberly, and Jason when they're tapped into **The Morphing Grid** that he never considered anyone else could have it, nor that theirs might be overpowering like bad perfume and a mental link at that, rather than a physical one. Doctor Oliver is _not_ any better.

"Green." He admits like a sin he doesn't want to relay. "Then White, and Red, uh twice, and Black. But Green when I met everyone."

Trini's walls drop as fast as she built them up with horrid memories of the alien woman who threatened to kill Trini, right in the bed she slept in. " _Green?_ " The word is nearly strangled trying to get out of her mouth but when it does, it leaves a venomous oozing sour taste.

The doctor just stares at her with dark eyes. "Zordon didn't make me a Ranger. Rita Repulsa did." With a deep sigh, Dr. Oliver looks like he's having a great war with himself. "I'm going to see if I can find anything in my mom's stuff or my old clothes for you guys to sleep in."

Trini's head whips around at his already retreating form going up some stairs. "I'd rather you _not_ handle my things!"

The man turns tensely to look at her and she can see just how worn out he is. "And I'd rather not be reminded of my good friend's birth year." He indicated with a nod to her shirt. Listed below the yellow tinted item had printed the year 1973. It was a vintage tee that she had felt compelled to buy, which Trini always found strange since she never really cared how she looked. "Plus your clothes are wet. You die from a cold or pneumonia before Billy gets back on earth and I suffer at the hands of Kim and Aisha strangling me to death."

When he comes back with some comfy looking sweats and directs them to the nearest bathroom, Jason locks the door and takes a good long look at himself. In his mind, this is all a panic induced nightmare brought on by the PTSD each of them has from facing Rita, except this seems more tangible than an image of his friends strung across the floor, bleeding out, for him to wake up on. This has too much. Just like them. Splashing some water upon his face, he heads out toward the couch to see that Dr. Oliver is watching TV, leaning against the foot of the sofa on the carpeted floor, as he eats his subs. Sighing, Jason should have guessed that after the day they've had, these people weren't just going to let them have a moment for themselves. Ergo guard duty. A door shuts and Kimberly come out of a bathroom as Trini goes in. Crawling under the blankets on the big comfy couch, she watched the TV light, noting how uncomfortable the doctor seemed to be as he was within close proximity of her but the Pink Ranger doesn't seem to care.

Trying to find an out, Doctor Oliver gazed at the bowl of popcorn near him, untouched. "I'm going to grab some more." and he rushed to the kitchen.

Sighing, Jason flopped down next to her, rubbing a hand over his eyes, worn out. "I want to go home."

Kim is silent for a while. "I don't." Jason moves to look at her, _really_ look at her since they got here. He should have known that someone who wants to fall off of Angel Grove's radar wouldn't care to get back.

"Then why-"

"How's your arm?" She maneuvered her body so she could inspect it at this position. Jason searched her eyes for answers. Answers on why every time he's in the same room as Kimberly Hart lyrics from an old Maroon 5 song float somberly through his head.

She doesn't give him the satisfaction of having what he's looking for. "Better, sore but getting there." Kimberly tapped the area where arm met shoulder distantly.

"They look like-"

"I know." Jason whispered grabbing the edges of her fingers and absently twisting and fumbling them around in his own hands, trying to get his mind off everything.

Finally the others joined them near the couch. Trini moved to sit on the other side of Kimberly, Zack positioned himself on the floor in between Trini's legs as she absently stroked his head. Jason's arm was engulfing Kim's shoulders but his hand was positioned in the crevice where Trini was leaning her body into Kim's side, so that he was touching Trini too. Zack's right foot was bumping against Billy's own knee as he was on the ground with the blue boy positioned between Kim and Jason's blanket covered legs. Tommy watched them leaning on the entryway of the kitchen that was behind the couch as they slowly drifted in and out of slumber. Jason was the only one to not fall asleep, closely watching over his teammates like a protective leader.

The doctor whisper to himself. "No Tommy Oliver 'Evil Green Ranger' to screw it all up, huh? It's probably for the best."

 **.**

 **.**

 _ **("Kim wants to spend time with you guys." "You're not a convincing liar in this world, Tommy Oliver." "...")**_

 **.**

They all end up at Kimberly Hart's place the next day. She, like Dr. Oliver, is only back because of the circumstances. Normally Ms. Hart would be in Florida coaching her gymnastics team but _Ranger Day_ , father at his beach house, mother living with her step dad up north….blah blah blah. Kim kind of wants to laugh at how enthusiastic this pink woman is about getting five wards. The younger girl knows it's going to be prison.

When Dr. Oliver takes decides to take his leave Jason can't help but notice the awkward intimacy that passes into his and Ms. Hart's movements of goodbye. Kimberly notices too, they're not subtle in their repression.

As soon as he takes off, Ms. Hart shoves them all like sardines into an older pink car ( _of_ _ **course!**_ ) and announces that, if they might be here awhile, they're going to have to get some other stuff to wear. None of them have the intention of being here any longer. After dragging the young rangers from one flirty cute store to another, they come to an impasse at one particular store in the mall. Nothing too fancy or frilly but not one that would give Ms. Hart a heart attack. Trying on clothes is a whole other idea contrarily. Ms. Hart is like an overbearing mother. She refuses to purchase anything for them unless she can see the wearer in the clothing herself, just to gush or say no over all of it.

They slow down with bags in their hands and Ms. Hart tells them as if she's known them all her life "while this smoothie place in the mall isn't quite the same as Ernie's Juice Bar, it's still better than most". Everyone, except Kimberly. Billy's the first one to notice and points it out to Zack, he immediately tells Jason and Trini wants to make a scene about how they've never heard of Ernest or whoever she was talking about but keeps her cool and repeats in her head that it's just for one day.

They get up to the counter. Ms. Hart orders for them but when she gets to her own other self it becomes apparent something's about to go down. "I'll get the raspberry strawberry pomegranate sweet tart smoothie and she'll also have the same-"

Kim has had enough. "I can order for _myself_!"

Ms. Hart gazes at her slowly then nods to the board with all the menu items. "Alright, what would you like?"

The young girl takes a long while memorising the beverages before it comes to her that what mirror self picked out, is exactly what she'd rather have. "The raspberry strawberry pomegranate sweet tart smoothie." She grumbles, taking the drink from the bemused employee, and nearly stomps on over to the little stool table to vent to Trini while Ms. Hart pays.

Coming over slowly, Ms. Hart cautiously pulls out a seat and joins them. "I'm sorry I ordered for you, that wasn't very considerate of me." She apologizes quietly.

"Whatever." Trini huffs getting defensive for her friend. "Unlike _you_ , she's over it already."

Ms. Hart watches, like _really_ watches her younger self, trying to find some emotional standpoint probably. Kimberly often does the same thing. "It must be hard coming into a new place that's just like your own."

Kim scoffs at that. "This place is _nothing_ like the Angel Grove I come from. And besides," the taller of the young females sighs, remembering all the things she'd like to forget. "I'm not wanted there anyway. Adjusting is just another one of my coping mechanisms we all had to pick up." Kimberly repeats boredly what a counselor once told her. God she _hates_ counselors. Except that isn't what she's doing right now. Adjusting. Coping. Both would indicate that she's willing to give this new surrounding a chance.

"In all offense, miss, you really don't have right to give us shit when we only just started to get a group and place to fit in."

She notices Ms. Hart furrow her eyebrows at that but doesn't comment. "You're new this year?"

Deciding to get this over with, Trini figures that she might get some info on Miss-go-lucky-sunshine too. "Last year, yeah…."

Ms. Hart looks like she's about to faint. "So you _didn't_ grow up with Jason, Billy, Zack and I?"

Trini takes in Ms. Hart and offhandedly thinks that the Kimberly she's come to know, the one she would now give her life for, is prettier. "We all met on a mining chasm and decided to fight aliens." Then she adds sarcastically. "The Breakfast Club and Chronicle would be so proud."

Kim lets that sit with the pink woman for awhile but mulls it over in her head too. "What, you guys didn't meet during the worst years of your lives?"

"We've known eachother since we were babies. Our mothers all became pregnant at the same time. Took prenatal lamaze classes together. That sort of thing. Billy lived down the street from me. Zack and I took dance classes together. Jason and I have been in the same classes since daycare. You and I," Trini makes a face at this but Ms. Hart continues. "we'd walk to this mall every Sunday for magazines."

Jason, who listens from the table over, takes all that in. In retrospect, he's never grown so close so quickly with a bunch of people he just met. Almost as if it were fate but Jason's conscious tells him that fate is an iffy thing! But wasn't it fate that brought them all together when Billy found the coins? Which begs the question: why there are _so_ _ **many**_ rangers of this world? A world that seems so carefree and in no real need of superheroes and yet every few seconds these clones drop a name and team like it's nothing. He's pulled out of his deep thoughts when Kimberly decides to stop beating around the bush and ask the question that hits him hard.

"Ms. Hart-"

" _Kim_." The woman corrects her with insistence.

" _ **Ms. Hart**_ ," Kimberly grinds out of her teeth, to keep herself in check. "what's going on between you and Dr. Oliver-"

"Tommy." She insists.

Kimberly humors her. "Fine, _Tommy_ , didn't seem very comfortable in your presence."

Ms Hart just looks down at her smoothie as she swirls the straw around the bottom remnants. "You're what 16?"

"17, actually." Kimberly corrects, hoping that her age will earn her a little more respect.

Ms. Hart sighs. "So I guess we're still together in your world then?"

That throws the Pink Ranger for a loop. " _Together_?!" she exclaims before she can shut up her brain.

The former pink ranger seems just as confused. "We've broken up already?"

At this Zack bursts out in laughter for the first time since they got to this god forsaken planet. Jason glares at him from across the table and Billy just averts his confused gaze back and forth between the two.

"Tommie Oliver and I," The girl in Yellow can't quite keep her voice even as she takes slow deep breaths to calm herself down. "Sit next to each other in art."

The older Kimberly Hart raises an eyebrow at this, not quite getting how big of a magnitude this is for Trini. "Okay…?"

Trini all but whispers her shaking admittance but no one goes to comfort her. They've all come to realize that the subject of the Native American girl with the form fitting green jacket and an apt for everything fast and extreme, is Trini's and Trini's alone (except when it's _sometimes_ Jason's). "We paint without talking and she'll get white paint all over her face and look like a huge dork and I'll start laughing but she won't care because she's giving me this shiteating grin and then we're trying to mark each other up with our paint brushes and Mrs. Donais is yelling at us to quiet down and…"

Trini trails off. By the point where the girl said ' _she_ ' Ms. Hart's eyes grew and honestly Zack didn't think they could get any bigger but it must have dawned on her what his Crazy Girl was trying to say and so they were saucers. Billy takes in his small friend. She's shaking from a lot. Finding out that you're dead isn't something that just goes away, Billy would know, but finding out that your newest crush, potential girlfriend likes your old crush and never even had eyes for you at all is just as strange. If there is one thing Billy can say is that Trini is passionate, fierce, volatile, and scared on the inside. He'd never say this to her face, mostly because he respects her too much to not let her stand up for herself but also partly because she'd beat his ass for saying something like that and then shower him with hugs and he's honestly not ready for that much contact.

A lot of things go over Billy's head and he understands that they do but his friends are actually something of an anomaly. Where he falls short on catching onto things that his Autism won't allow, they don't just huff in frustration. It's kind of great. He's seen Trini and Tommie Oliver interact with one another after he comes out of his last class to walk with Trini to AP Math, and he _likes_ seeing them together. They just _fit_. He wonders how that fits Jason into the equation? Zack mentioned how he used to see Jace and Tommie together all the time in middle school. The evidence would dictate that they were once friends right? Or at least acquaintances. This is a messed up world if the big love triangle is between Kimberly's mirror image, Trini's crush, and Zack's infatuation instead of two of his best friends and the legendary girl everyone whispers they used to know.

Ms. Hart's face has never been so pale, at least not since Trini first came into that living room. "We should go home." The woman finally manages out.

"Yeah," Zack chuckles with sarcasm. "Tell us where that is exactly."

 **.**

.

 **("** _ **Billy's back from space.**_ " " _ **Of course**_ _**he is!" "I go to space!?"**_ **)**

* * *

 **AN:/ Haven't written on this site in a while and had honestly forgotten about it because of AO3. Anyway, saw The Power Rangers Movie and loved it bunches as you can tell. Wanted to try out this idea. Each chapter will end with a lead in to the next so Billy's first encounter with the group is next. I want each of the original rangers to have at least 2 meetings/perspectives with the team of 2017 and hope that you enjoy them. Reviews are appreciated!**


	2. No One Gets It Like We Do, Kills It

**2.**

 **No One Gets It Like We Do,**

 **Gets It Like We Do,**

 **Kills It Like We Do**

 **.**

 **.**

 **( _"Billy's back from space." " Of course he is!" "I go to space!?"_)**

 **.**

Most of the time they stay with Mr. William Cranston, he's working on some weird contraption in the garage. His father (wow it's weird for Jason to think this world's Billy has a father he grew up with and not the mother he's met on many occasion) seems to be the only one out of all the rangers parents to catch on to his son's worldly activities and idly Jason contemplates whether Mrs. Cranston has an inkling either. He figures no because, even though this world mirrors their own, his friends aren't nearly as obvious as these guys.

Unlike Dr. Oliver and Ms. Hart, the group stays longer with William Cranston and yet rarely catch a glimpse of him. On day three of being stored up in a guest bedroom and only ever coming out for food, the eldest Cranston in the household peeks his head in and stands there for a beat. It's a bit unnerving since they are all huddled in a dog pile on the floor by the bed not really doing much of anything other than being.

"You kids should see Billy." It's really just a suggestion but Mr. Cranston glances at the boy on the floor in blue. "Um not you, Billy, my Billy, uh… my son William."

He's a peculiar adult. All the others agree with this statement and they don't really understand how he takes the whole _my-son-is-off-being-a-breakthrough-scientist-on- **another-planet!**_

Something that Jason can't seem to shake is the amount of time that William and Billy Cranston both spend in their garage, building gadgets, tinkering with items, creating the impossible. It's eerily similar. Finding their space at the beginning of the room, the teens draw a line overlooking the scientist, not afraid to step over the intangible border but putting boundaries between. William is working underneath a tube like machine, decked out in a blue oil stained shirt, along with matching jeans. His glasses are to the side.

"I've never seen you wear glasses." Zack blurts out to Billy on his left.

"I don't wear any. I mean, I would if i had to but ever since elementary school- ya know when we used to get those eye and ear check ups every year? I've never needed them. I shouldn't say never though, because they say that your eyesight deteriorates 15% every couple of years after you hit 45 which doesn't seem that high but it's definitely noticeable."

"My dad wears glasses." Trini muses offhandedly. "Only when he reads but yeah…" The others just nod their heads in agreement not really having anything to say but figuring that the older man in blue would take note of them when he wasn't looking like he was performing rocket science. William Cranston doesn't stall his inventing but does have a little jerking movement to his arms while he grabs tools as if they were full of uncontainable energy pent up by something or another but bursting to get there hands on the next knick-knack or blueprint. They recognize it, Billy has the same little ticks.

"My vision impairment is something that I've been subjected to most of my life. Only for the past few years have I taken it upon myself to enhance my optical dexterity with contacts." As if to make a point, William scoots out from underneath the hulking mess to rub the bridge of his nose. Taking to observing them like a lab rat, Zack notes just how similar and different the scientist of two worlds could be. "I deduce that my eyesight is impeccably high than what it should be at my age range, reasonably the dilemma could be a counter argument to the difference in statistical data from one plain of existence to another. "

Kimberly doesn't exactly know how her doppelganger is so different but Billy and William Cranston share everything but physical traits, except… "Wow, you're just as smart as him."

At this, William raises an eyebrow. Sighing, he gets up and wipes his hands clean of grease and moves to sit on the stool from across with the table between them. Gesturing towards the paper plate with PB&J sandwiches, William grabs one of his own and takes a small bite. Zack hesitates for a second, skeptically wondering if Mr. Super-Genius could invent a powder that could make you tell the truth and whether he'd have the balls to put it in their sandwich. Shrugging, Trini realizes that William and Billy may be two sides to one coin but neither of them are so stupid as to mess with her. Taking her own bite, Trini wonders about what is and isn't appropriate to bring up. "You live on a different planet."

"Affirmative." He agrees. "However, the problematic situation that had me contained there now has a solution. After many trial and error tests, my experimentation has proven to be in good faith and I now am able to expedite outside of the planet's ecosystem, void of harm."

Billy spits out what's on his mind. "I'm not really into aliens- the only ones I know are Alpha and Zordon, and ones a robot and the other is Wall Dad so there's a difference."

Cocking his head a little, Billy watches as the man in blue analyzes that statement in front of his very eyes. "Perhaps not, I was well done with my secondary education before I had such a situation involving hormones arise."

Zack figued he'd give Billy a hard time by messing with his counterpart. "Didn't really play the field?"

William gave a small sad smile. "On the contrary, Kim often stated that 'dorky' is what drew the female population to myself."

"Huh." Zack commented with a musing on movies with aliens. "Guess we need to find Billy a hot martian." William just hums at that, pondering he guesses- on the multiverse take on nature vs. nurture and how that affects the similarity and differences of a singular being, from two different dimensions. William chuckles lightly. "I frequently find myself in a position of favoring a female that does not reciprocate my own emotional attachment to her or if so, she cannot express them for she is, as of then, in a courtship of her own. My current partner was not of similar instance."

Trini's face scrunches in slight disgust. "Don't tell me you had a thing for Ms. Hart!"

Laughing; Jason recognized the same freeing and relieving facial expression Billy had was also present on William Cranston, when he did it. "Kim and I are that of a surrogate sibling relation and not much more. I have found that I too once held an attraction for your mirror image Trini Kwan though she did not express more than friendship for myself and held our own Zack Taylor in high esteem. I had never confronted her upon such a feat anyway, merely through my own discovery did I put our dynamic into place. It was something that I've had come to accept. When it came to the women of the Pink nature, I held a predilection to Kat."

Billy thought back to when he was cooped up with all those other rangers in that living room and how before they left those rangers not in affiliation with the younger team promptly introduced themselves. Kat or Katherine Hillard was a leggy blonde Australian woman and had taken on the duties of Ms. Hart. Jason peaked at Zack from the corner of his eye. His friend didn't show any sort of emotional response to this idea but Zack often wears a smirk and a smile to hide a mask. In their world Katherine Hillard went by the nickname Kitty. She's a nice, lovely girl who's on the dance team not cheerleading so she sometimes gives Kim a friendly hello in passing during lunch. She's quiet except for the one time Jason went to Zack's place to start training (he was an hour late and everyone else had already shown up) and saw Kitty Hillard snuggled up with Zack on the bed. She looked like she'd been crying. Jason never pried as they slipped out of his trailer home and made their trek to the mining caves only offered his story about his time with Tommie Oliver.

"You'd be Bill Nye Ken and Outback Ballerina Barbie." The Trini dryly snarked.

"Interesting that we both share allusions of pop cultural references between worlds." Billy smiles warmly at her playful nature. Trini notes that for someone who's lived their life in space he's the most down to earth.

Taking the time to truly admire his craftsmanship from where they sat, Trini points out the obvious. "That's the machine that will get me home."

"Affirmative." He nods with a sureness. "Unfortunately, the construct still needs some modifications before we actually partake in experimentation."

The way he words it isn't anything out of the ordinary. Trini can understand the scientist just as fine as she would her own Billy but where her Blue Ranger would hide his massive vocabulary and conform to the norms of an average intellectual, this one is bracingly comfortable in his knowledge. A feat that William Cranston is unnerved to point out that both Trini's share.

"How long?" Jason questions with all his hope since the first time he's been in this god forsaken dimension.

William doesn't answer for a good long while. Then. "Jason wants to get you settled into Angel Grove more. He thinks it would be better if you helped him out a bit with his class at the Youth Center. It will help you integrate more easily." Billy notices that he hardly shows his intelligence in these few sentences. It's then that he comes to expect the worse.

 **.**

 **.**

 **( _"Too long." "...Jason's really a great person." "So were you."_ )**

 **.**

And he is. Jason can tell why. Where he's made some big mistakes but is an all around good guy this Jason is likable. The differences are there. Billy comes to notice with several things that changed from his planet, Jason Scott and Jason _**Lee**_ Scott are no exception.

"So you enjoy hitting things?" He chuckles at Trini while she takes another swing at the dummy.

"Yeah." It's one word and she doesn't want to talk to him. Dr. Oliver was too tired and reserved, Ms. Hart held on too dearly and was looking for a replacement, William knew just what she needed to hear but understood that she was a separate entity. This guy? She can't tell what his game is. And he knows it too.

Ducking out of the way before he lays her flat on the mat, Jase watches Trini catch her breath from where he's standing above. "You've got a mean right hook but would do better if you leveraged yourself more there." He points to her opposing thigh on the ground. "Too much power on one leg for just a single knock to the head will get you winded fast. Doesn't matter how strong your team is. That's why I got you down so quickly. You're too gung-ho." He smiles at her warmly and extends a hand to help her up but Trini ignores it and instead gets to her feet and heads straight for a chair and the water bottle he let her borrow to sit beside her fellow rangers.

"I'm not too anything." The girl whispers so that only Kim beside her can hear. The Pink ranger frowns as Mr. Scott calls up Jason to spar next and takes in the two different statures. They both share a warm smile but that's where the similarities end. Jason is a fair skinned blond haired blue-eyed all American quarterback with a begrudging past but filled with good intentions. Mr. Scott has a golden tan, deep brown eyes, hair as dark as a raven's, and a demeanor that says everyone has always liked him and or looks up to him. Natural leader. Kimberly resents him for it because anything that Mr. Scott does with ease, she knows that Jason would have to work hard at and even then he would show how much of struggle he's really taking on but wouldn't cut himself some slack in fear of being looked upon as vulnerable. It also doesn't help that Mr. Scott favors Jason's own dick of a father, Sam Scott, better than Jason himself whom from what she's assumed holds all of the features of his mother, Beverly.

While Mr. Scott shakes his head laughing good naturedly at Jason's blocking techniques Mr. Scott's nature truly shines through. That of an incredibly gorgeous human being. Every fiber in her says that he's _**too old**_ he's **_too kind_** he's **_too perfect_** but then she also feels a yearning to just grab him and beg him to wrap his warm arms around her because he's _**old er**_ **not old** , he's _**kind hearted**_ **not obnoxiously kind** , he's **_perfect ly amazing_** **not the epitome of perfection** and-

"You're staring again." Mr. Scott grins sheepishly.

Sending him a glare, Kimberly huffs at his obvious amusement with her. "You're full of shit." Jason holds back a small triumphant smile, knowing full well that Mr. Scott doesn't approve of her vulgarity but he doesn't say anything but it does make him uncomfortable. It makes Jason himself squeamish. Not because he's not okay with swearing, his own " _ **mood swings**_ " give him a few choice words to spit out now and again. It's just that everytime Kim does it sounds off on her lips.

"So I'm a little curious as to what we're all like in your place." Mr. Scott muses as he unwraps his hands from the athletic bindings.

Mischief is written all over Zack's face. "What, did Dr. Oliver break down and have some existential crisis or something?"

This time it's a full on hearty laugh that Mr. Scott gives them and they receive it with small joining chuckles.

"No, nothing like that!" Wiping imaginary tears from his eyes Mr. Scott calmed down enough to look in his eyes sincerely. "Our Billy mentioned that parallels are a funny thing. Warned me that not all things stay the same. Might do me some good to take the time to get to know this group of Zordon's Rangers before I start making my own assumptions."

Something in Trini was building. Like a dam being hit with a raging pressure her walls were about to break. She had to build on top of those cracking structures. "Billy's a smart guy." she says feeling small.

"That he is." Mr. Scott told her, noticing Trini's internal cries, "Of both worlds." He adds smiling at the Billy Cranston who was trying to balance a handstand. He beamed as Mr. Scott nodded encouragingly to him.

"I'm exhausted." Jason huffed and the others agreed Mr. Scott's eyes zeroed in on his clone's face. Jason found it unnerving. As the others packed up their water bottles and headed out the door both Red Rangers stayed and lingered. Slowing their pace as they walked side by side.

"You know out of your whole team, you were the only one to hold back in sparring."

"You going to yell at us too?" Jason laughed at the irony at his own image being disappointed in himself.

"No." Mr. Scott shrugged simply. "I'm just wondering why that is."

"My friends and I aren't like your moral coded team." Jason stopped in the middle of a hallway before the exit. "When Rita attacked Trini in her house we were ready to _**kill**_ for her. We're prone to violence and will crack a few skulls- Putties or alien witch bitch, without hesitation." Jason glared at his other self, the man who accepted the draft into being a toy soldier for a war that's been raging on this planet for generations. He shouldn't have let it get that far, he was the leader, he should have _**ended it**_. Jason wasn't going to allow this to happen to them. "'Teenagers with attitude.' right? That's what Zordon wanted, right?" Jason and Jason held a glare off between one another as the others laughed in the background.

Zack had climbed the flagpole of the building and was currently trying to find a way to swing back down without letting on that the fall wouldn't break every bone in his body. Trini was bouncing up and down from the highest point of the jungle gym adjacent to where Zack was, yelling obscene things from her position at the black ranger. Her stops were sure to leave at least a dent. Billy, pacing around the pole at every angle, was trying to direct Zack by yelling out the best way yo get down without causing the most damage to the property. Kimberly was just laughing up a storm at the whole scene before her arms clutching her sides as the people she called her idiots made her throw her head back with a carefree feeling. "Then how come he got upstanding citizens instead?" Jason left it at that and turned away from his former self. Trudging towards the group before him he didn't spare a second glance. "Let's go!" The laughter and smiles died down from their teammates obvious inner turmoil. Trini sent Mr. Scott a glare and Kimberly and him just shared a look of disappointment. Billy just glanved between his once new and old friends as he walked next to Mr. Scott now.

 **.**

 **.**

 **( _"You seem tired Mr. Scott, maybe you should take a break." "... Aisha and Rocky are going to pick you guys up." "The one's who came after?" "Yes."_)**

 **.**

* * *

 **AN:/ Sorry for the admittingly shorter chapter. So I'm hinting at something for Jason but I'm not sure I'm doing a very good job of it and forgive me if I'm not capturing Billy (2017) very well. He is precious and I could only dream of depicting the essence of innocence! Kimberly is a cynic which I can relate to but she is also a beautiful human being and deserves kindness (btw the Maroon5 song Jason was thinking of was 'She Will Be Loved'). Trini is amazing and fierce but also queen and we should all protect Trini especially in this world! Btw when I first thought up this plot idea it was only going to be Trini who would be going to the Series world instead of the whole team but I love my little team SO MUCH that I couldn't do it. Though I had written most of these chapter's Trini centric so that's why it's taking so long to edit and post.**

 **I'm thinking of bringing a little blurb of Tommie Oliver and Kitty Hillard in, spoiler's if you haven't looked at the tags but by now it's been heavily hinted. I'm not telling you who to picture each girl as because everyone deserves their own rendition of how they view these characters in physicallity *kisses random reader on the head for theatrics***  
 **However when I'm picturing Tommie Oliver my chocies go back and forth between Camila Mendes, Amber Midthunder, Levi Sophia, Lulu Antariksa, Kelsey Chow, Samantha Boscarino, and Stella Hudgens. Kitty is just mainly a Haley Lu Richardson or an older Jordyn Jones.**


End file.
